Bell's in the form of his life... this was a first-rate innings from a first-rate batsman

I said at Trent Bridge that Ian Bell had not played a more important innings for England, but I believe he has never batted better than he did on Thursday at Lord's.

In Nottingham, he soaked up the pressure brilliantly on a deathly slow track, and dug England out of a hole in the second innings. Here in London, with the ball coming on to the bat nicely, his timing was superb and his defence really solid. It has been a first-rate innings from a first-rate player.

It’s amazing what runs can do for your confidence. In the first innings at Trent Bridge he did what he’s been prone to do occasionally in his career — play nicely for 25, then follow the ball outside off stump and nick it to slip. I get as infuriated as anyone.

But he began to look more relaxed in the second innings and he’s taken that into his game here. Instead of fiddling at the one outside off, he’s leaving it alone. That’s all about confidence and trust in your own method.

I said after that first innings in Nottingham that England needed something big from Ian Bell and if I’d been in the dressing room, I’d have taken him into a corner and told him that pretty 20s are no longer good enough from a bloke who’s now a veteran.

He needs to go big and he has the ability to do just that.

There are times when I think Bell has doubted just how good he is. The way he has batted, it’s been as if he’s been trying to convince himself of the answer. But the truth is he’s a seriously good player and this mini purple patch is overdue.

Strokeplay: Bell showed his full range of shots in his 109

At the other end, Jonny Bairstow played an important innings but that technical issue of his — where he plays across the line because of his strong bottom hand — reared its head again when he was bowled by Peter Siddle on 21.

If that hadn’t been a no-ball, there would have been a lot of questions asked about Bairstow’s technique, because a Test batsman shouldn’t keep getting out bowled like that.

The annoying thing about Bairstow is that he has all the credentials to be a good middle-order player. He’s a good run-getter, he punishes the bad ball and he scores quickly.

But he has to sort out this problem because teams have cottoned on to it and you won’t survive long in Test cricket if a particular weakness keeps getting exposed.

I’m not saying it’s easy to correct a
glitch. In fact, in the middle of a series, when you barely have any
time to work on your game, it’s nigh on impossible.

Technical issue: Jonny Bairstow is bowled by Peter Siddle playing across the line - but the delivery was deemed a no-ball

I remember when Mike Atherton developed the habit of bringing his bat down at an angle, we used to call him Scissorhands. For a while, it was really tough for him but he went away and worked incredibly hard on his game.

Bairstow may not have the time to do that right now but he’s got to have the mental strength to recognise his problem and adapt accordingly — even if it means blocking the full and straight ones and looking to pick up his runs elsewhere.

After that fabulous fightback, England will be very disappointed to have given it away against Steve Smith — although in fairness he bowled two good deliveries.

The leg-break to Bell was perfect and he was smart to bowl a skiddy delivery to Matt Prior. It’s just a shame about the full toss to Bairstow.